Though I had prayed for his release and attended rallies in his support during his more than five years in Hamas captivity in Gaza, I didn’t think that I’d see Gilad Schalit alive. But last month, on the eve of the Day of Atonement service at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, I shook hands with him. A couple of nights later, he spoke at a rally in nearby Beth Tzedec Congregation.

He’s a timid young man who became a household name in his native Israel and the focus of international attention after he was abducted from an Israeli military base. Though Israelis are happy that he was released — two years ago next Friday — few regard him as a hero. Some even believe that had proper procedures been followed, the terrorists wouldn’t have succeeded in kidnapping him and killing two of his fellow soldiers.

But virtually all see him as proof of Israel’s determination to protect its military, indeed all its citizens, under any circumstance and irrespective of cost. For some of us his return also confirms that prayer matters and that rallies are important.

Schalit was in Canada last month to thank all who remembered him and supported his family during his ordeal.

As part of his gradual return to normality before going to university, he has been writing about sports for an Israeli tabloid. His interest in sports may have helped him to create something of a bond with his captors. The New York Times last year reported that his jailers sporadically gave him access to radio and television, and sometimes even watched with him.

The most significant of the many speeches at the rally was by Torontonian Jason Kimelman. His 17-year old sister Marni lost her life in July 1990, when a homemade pipe bomb exploded on the beach in Tel Aviv. The terrorist responsible for the attack was tried and imprisoned, but joined the more than 1,000 Palestinians, many of them “with blood on their hands,” that Israel exchanged for Schalit.

Kimelman thus reflected the cardinal Jewish teaching that it’s a sacred duty to redeem captives irrespective of the price. Throughout history, as part of their perennial persecution, many Jews had been taken as slaves as an “investment” by their captors. They knew that Jewish communities would pay any ransom to redeem them. Similarly, Hamas seems to have taken Schalit hostage to gain the advantage of having him as a bargaining chip to get its own people out of Israel’s prisons, which is very painful for Israel because many of the prisoners had killed or maimed Israelis.

Some Israelis objected to the deal, especially families of victims who viewed it as a scandalous travesty of justice for which their country would pay dearly. Indeed, two recent attempts to capture soldiers that led to their deaths appear to have been efforts to emulate the success with Schalit. And previously exchanged prisoners are known to have returned to terrorist activities.

Though some Canadians may concur with the objections, the vast majority seem to affirm the Jewish precept that “to save one life is to save the whole world.” The safe return of Schalit is a telling refutation of the minority that argues otherwise. It also reflects the view that, as committed as we are to the pursuit of justice, saving life is even more important. The handshake with Gilad Schalit on the holiest day of the Jewish year confirmed it for me.

Dow Marmur is rabbi emeritus at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple. His column appears every other week.